White House press briefings will from next week be held inside a regulation octagon erected on the briefing room floor, with reporters allowed to question the press secretary only in three five-minute rounds, White's office confirmed on Sunday. Dana White, who has agreed to take the post after a Monday meeting with President Donald Trump, said the change was necessary to restore order to the White House press corps.
"Nobody gets a free answer in this building anymore," White said at the London news conference, where he was flanked by fighters from Zuffa Boxing. "Every question gets a round. If you go past the bell, you get a warning, and two warnings and you are out of the room." Three judges sit at a table beside the podium and score each exchange on a ten-point system.
The briefing room has been fitted with a second set of seats for the Pentagon and the Department of Justice, who will be allowed to stand in the corners between rounds and offer water to the press secretary. Trump's assistants, all of them former UFC fighters, will man the cage door and call stoppages when a reporter goes for a leg lock.
Steven Cheung, the communications director, said the schedule would move to a fixed card. "Fight week starts Monday. Weigh-ins are Thursday. Anyone not in the building on time is disqualified from the next briefing," he said. Several networks have already asked for their own corner stools.